By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Xavier's 71-62 loss Sunday night in the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament could not tarnish a successful season.

"Not many people gave us a chance to win 20 games or get to the NCAA Tournament," rookie head coach Kevin McGuff said Monday.

The Musketeers finished 20-10, rebounding from a 12-19 season.

The key for McGuff will be finding replacements for graduating guards Amy Waugh and Reetta Piipari. There will be plenty of candidates come fall practice.

Six guards will return, and three of the four recruits in McGuff's first class can play guard.

"We bring back some good athletes at those spots," McGuff said.

He also would like to add depth across the roster. XU went only seven deep this past season. The same five players started all 30 games, and just one bench player - rising senior Aida Sarajlija - appeared in every game.

"I'd like to expand the amount of people we play," McGuff said. "It would allow us to do more defensively. We could play more aggressively without fatigue."

Three starters will be back, a trio headed by Highlands High School graduate Tara Boothe. She capped off her Atlantic 10 Conference rookie of the year season with a 16-point effort in the Musketeers' first-round Tournament loss Sunday night to UC Santa Barbara at Lubbock, Texas.

Boothe was the team's second-leading scorer at 16 points a game. Boothe and another rising sophomore, guard Kristy Wallner, figure to be joined in the starting lineup by Alexis Henderson. Henderson started every game this season.

"The lesson I hope we take from this year is if we keep working hard with lofty expectations, we can continue to thrive," McGuff said. "As a head coach, I'm happy. I'm happy for my staff. We had success, and we enjoyed working together."

Waugh and Piipari were the last members of the 2000-01 Elite Eight team. Counting their 25 combined points in the season finale, they scored a total of 2,887 points in their four seasons at Xavier.

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E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

XU's projected 2003-04 roster

Player	Ht.	Yr.	PPG	Hometown/High school
Tara Boothe	6-1	So.	16.0	Fort Thomas (Highlands)
Chelsea Chowning	6-0	Fr.	N/A	Berea, Kent. (Lexington Catholic)
Mandy Geryak	5-9	So.	0.4	Morgantown, Ind. (Martinsville)
Miranda Green	5-6	Fr.	N/A	Indianapolis (Pike)
Alexis Henderson	6-0	Jr.	7.0	Wilmington, Del. (Ursuline)
Mellissa King G	5-6	So.	0.0	Sacramento, Calif. (St. Francis)
Michele Miller	5-9	Fr	N/A	North College Hill (NCH)
Addy Olanrewaju	6-2	Jr.	4.0	Brooklyn, N.Y. (Bishop Loughlin) transfer from N.C. State
Karolina Piotrkiewicz	6-3	So.	0.8	Calais, France
Aida Sarajlija	6-1	Sr.	4.7	Zenica, Bosnia (Ekonomska)
Danielle Statuto	5-6	Jr.	0.8	Peterborough, N.H. (Con-Val)
Brittney Thomas	5-6	So.	1.0	Lakewood, Calif. (Artesia)
Kristy Wallner	5-11	So.	4.7	Bemidji, Minn. (Bemidji)
Nikki Wells	5-10	Jr.	2.6	Woodbridge, Va. (Gar-Field)
Chenara Wilson	6-1	Fr.	N/A	Cleveland (East)